Preventing ladder injuries one step at a time

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"The thing to remember with ladders is one step at a time, two hands at a time," says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director at Underwriters Labs.

"And what that means is you should never carry tools up a ladder in your hands while you're climbing. You should keep both hands on the ladder. Make sure you wear a tool belt or have somebody hand up the tools to you so that you can control your movement up and down the ladder."

Many people wind up in the emergency room because they try to move the ladder while they're on it because they don't want to go down and back up. Not a good idea.

"Always face the ladder when you're climbing up or down and never over-extend your reach in any direction."

Use the right ladder for the job. One that's too short or too long is an accident waiting to happen.

Don't use a metal ladder if you're working with electrical equipment or near electrical lines.

"An aluminum ladder will conduct electricity where a fiber glass and wood ladder will not."